Once apon a dream
by Beldamslittlehelper
Summary: James had never dreamed of being a policeman. But now he has a second career , he may as well make the most of it. James writes a diary about the first murder case he solved with Robbie Lewis.
1. Day 1

When getting a phone call from the superintendent Innocent to pick up an Inspector Lewis from the airport I felt privileged that I was asked to do something that not many other sergeants would take the time to do.

While writing down Lewis on the cardboard sign it made me wonder what this Lewis would be like. I couldn't imagine that he would be any stricter than Inspector Knox. That's another reason why I agreed to collect Lewis from the airport; I would have the morning spared of being ordered about like a servant. Knox isn't exactly the kindest of inspectors; the only kindness you can get from him is when he sends you away to get him a cup of tea ditto coffee.

As I wait for Lewis to come out it made me think about what it would be like to work on a murder case with him. Would he be brainy? Or would he be more of person for action?

When he finally came out and walked towards me my first impression of him was that he would have a lot of experience with solving murder cases even if his choice of clothing was on the loud side.

Walking out of the airport was an unexpected welcome for both of us; all I saw was a blur of a red car which was unknown to Inspector Lewis and in a split second I grabbed his arm and pulled him back. I was lucky to have been so quick, if I had been even a second later I could have risked returning to innocent and telling her Inspector Lewis had been run over. However Inspector Lewis didn't get up straight away, instead he seemed more interested in the car that young woman was driving. Of course I found out later that the car that woman was driving was the same make of car that Lewis's governor Inspector Morse drove.

When I was driving us to the Thames valley police station I couldn't help but notice that he was looking around as if he didn't know where he was. I wanted to make a polite conversation so I asked him a few questions which I thought seemed appropriate, but his answer to one of my questions interested me as I simply asked _Has Oxford changed much since you been away?_ And his reply was _No it changed before I went._ I had to admit that I didn't entirely know what he meant by that but I was soon to find out as he silently requested for me to drive to a particular place by pointing his finger to the next turn.

Wherever my thoughts were leading to it certainly wasn't what I had expected. I felt like kicking myself when I realised where he had wanted me to stop at. At that point all I could do was stare at the grass while I let Lewis get on with what he needed to do. It would have been rude to gawp at him when he was obviously going through a delicate moment. I didn't feel the need to talk as I felt that he should have some solitude to really capture the peaceful atmosphere. I felt a little guilty when my mobile rang as when I picked up the call I noticed that he had looked up at me with a look of confusion and maybe irritation at the same time. I couldn't hide the news from him so I simply told him that there had been a shooting at a sleep clinic which I had been sent to deal with.

Out of the blue I saw my governor's car pulled up towards the side of the road while I was driving to the crime scene. I stopped the car and at that exact moment was when I saw that he had to take a breathalyzer test. I immediately distinguished that Knox would be put on a suspension and he knew it as much as I did. When I came over to get a closer look at what was happening Knox had told me to go as if I was some kind of stray dog. In a way I felt relieved that he was there rather than bossing me about, but it did mean that he had left me to hold up the fort.

We were welcomed to the crime scene by Dr Hobson and her little greeting _the wanderer returns._ Also her fashion advice for the day was _cor, could you turn down the volume on that shirt?_ Which I had to admit made me chuckle but silently of course.

While Dr Hobson examined the body I was tasked with gathering information on the deceased girl Regan Peverill who was a student volunteer for the experiments at a sleep clinic. I later discovered that Regan had been shot through the neck by a handgun and that another student by the name of Daniel Griffon's key code was used to let the murderer in to kill her. After finding out that useful bit of information, Inspector Lewis unexpectedly asked me if I would be ok on my own for a bit. It was quite a surprise to actually be asked if I was alright with something. I knew he was trying to be kind and considerate but I am so used to DI Knox leaving me to do most of the work that it didn't bother me.

Later on that day I met up with Inspector Lewis again to visit one of the suspects Daniel Griffon to question him about where he was when Regan was killed. Before we got to his place I was keen to find out how his meeting went with the Superintendent. When I asked how it went the answer I received was _I got promotion didn't I, Caretaker._ This automatically told me that his meeting did not go as he had planned out.

However that did not stop him from doing his job and questioning Daniel Griffon about where he was and what time. There were some things that Daniel owned which were quite interesting such as his photo of his father who used to run the Griffon cars business. Also his rowing hat from the Cardinals club reminded me of the times when I used to row a bit when I was a teenager.

We then questioned Daniel about his volunteering at the sleep lab and his code he used to go in and out of the building. Also Inspector Lewis asked him about that hoodie he was wearing and whether he owns a gun. After finding out that he did own a gun, he directed us to where he kept it and was as surprised as I was when the gun was missing. He was soon told by Inspector Lewis that he was to come down to the station, but shortly after he was told he fainted and that was when Inspector Lewis found out about my possession of smelling salts.

We soon took Daniel to the station and kept him in custody to get a swab which Daniel told us that we would find gun powder on his hands as he was in his own words letting off some steam by shooting glass bottles and cans yesterday.

Inspector Lewis then went on to questioning Daniel's tutor about what Daniel was like and how well he knew Regan, it was then confirmed that Daniel was where he said he was and that we could defiantly say that Daniel was not the murderer of Regan Peverill.

The next task we had to do was to search through Regan's room. The first thing we found was the book written by Ivo Denniston who was also Daniels alibi. The next thing we found was card that was sent in Oxford to Regan a week ago. The interesting thing was what was written on the card. It read the lion prays the eagle keeps her beak shut. We soon figured out that an eagle and lion was what a griffon was meant to be so it would be half eagle half lion. I was then instructed by Lewis to compare the writing on the card to Daniel griffons.

After collecting the results of the comparison of the writing on that card to Daniels writing I was told that Lewis was with Dr Hobson in her lab. It wasn't my intention to overhear their conversation but I didn't want him worrying about where I was if he did need me so I had to try my best not to hear everything that was said.

 _"You're more fed up than tired, aren't you?"_

 _"Oh, it's just... why bother, you know? Innocent wants to put me out to grass. I might as well jack it all in tomorrow."_

 _"And you wouldn't know what to do with yourself"_

 _"No"._

 _"Are the Met making any progress on Val's death?"_

 _"Hit and run, no witnesses, fat chance after this time. Unless the bastard driver develops a conscience". "We've got cracking shops in Oxford, why did she have to go to London?"_

By this time I could tell that this was distracting Robbie from his work and I wanted this murder case sorted as much as he did , I knocked on the door only to be answered by Lewis's snappy sentence I'm coming!. I immediately shut the door, as it was clear that my presence was unwanted at that moment by the irritation in his voice as he spoke to me.

Trying to forget what I overheard in the lab, I asked him what the time frame was for Regan's murder. It was revealed that the time frame was between 8pm and 10pm, which had got me thinking that if Daniel was with his tutor from 8.30pm till 10 but we still hadn't confirmed that he was with his family at 8pm. But Inspector Lewis had other ideas and said that it was clear that it was someone who was trying to impersonate him. I didn't see the point of arguing so I would have left it at that.

 _No, no you obviously think different, tell me._ Was yet again another sentence that had surprised me, while working with DI Knox I soon learned that he was the one who had the right to an opinion and that no other thoughts apart from his own were acceptable, but now I'm with the Inspector Lewis I was suddenly allowed to speak my mind so I did. I told him that we couldn't account for Danny between the hours of 8 and 8.30 as he said he was with his family so I thought that we should check that he was telling the truth.

I had also retrieved the case file for Danny's criminal damage from when he was 15, it seemed important to Inspector Lewis and maybe it could help to solving Regan's murder. In the file it read that Danny was taken to the police after tampering with the brakes on the car that belonged to his uncle Rex Griffon. Also in the file was an inquest on Danny's father Johnny Griffon and at the back was a crossword puzzle that I then found out from Inspector Lewis that Morse was a cross word fanatic and a particular sentence that Morse wrote reading Polo not king after all really interested me as it was an partial anagram which I was more than tempted to figure out. But before I could I was told that we were going to see Danny's family.

Mrs Griffon told us that Danny had left their family event at 8.15 that evening and it was also confirmed by Jess Pollock, the daughter of Tom Pollock who is the financial director for Griffon cars. Inspector Lewis asked her about the incident with Danny and Rex's car, which was the crime that Morse was assigned to. Mrs Griffon said that Morse was very understanding and he was a man you could talk to. We then moved on to talking to Tom Pollock about Danny and he told us that Danny thinks that Rex is in Tom's or rather Danny's own words selling the company up a fast buck. Tom also said that in general Danny is a good lad just impetuous. We asked tom where he was at 9.30 and Jess told us that he was driving around looking for her as she was worried about her music scholarship tomorrow. I showed Tom the card that was sent to Regan a week ago, he said it wasn't Danny's writing but he didn't say who it could have been.

The last person we questioned was Rex Griffon. Lewis asked him about the cautioning of messing around with the brakes of his car five years back. His answer was that he was trying to kill him because Danny thought that Rex had fixed the brakes on Johnny's car before he crashed as Danny thought that him and his mother were having an affair. Lewis asked where Rex was at 9.30 and his reply was that he was taking his Japanese friends back to the Randolph who he dropped off at around 9.15 then came straight back home but no one would have been able to confirm that. We showed him the card we had shown Tom and he admitted that he was the one who had sent the card. We wanted to know what he had meant by the little sentence that he wrote in the card and Rex told us that he and Regan had a one night stand and that nobody accept Danny might have known about it.

We went back to where Daniel griffon was staying and we asked his friend who lives shares a landing with him about his gun which was stolen from his room. He told us that yesterday he was with or had just got back from seeing his parents. I also asked him about this experiment he takes part in. His friend told us that it was weird as Danny could go from three to four days without sleep.

After questioning everyone we could think of who could have been involved in Regan's murder I went back to the crossword sentence that Morse had done years ago but it still wouldn't make sense. Before we went to have a pint Inspector Lewis asked me what I was doing before I joined the police force. My honest answer was that I was studying theology at Cambridge University. I even told him that I was going to become a priest and that I even did one year at the seminary. His reply was _you would know all about the meaning of life then, god moves in a mysterious way, wonders to perform mumbo jumbo._ I simply said that it wasn't my fault that his wife died. I knew how mean that sounded as soon as I said it that made me regret it a lot more, before I could have said sorry my phone rang, it was the Superintendent asking me to come back and give DI Grainger an update.

I didn't see Inspector Lewis for the rest of the day, not that there was much of the day left. All I could do now was wait for tomorrow and what It may bring.


	2. Day 2

The next morning I was sent out to get Inspector Lewis after he hadn't turned up at the station. When I got to his flat he was fast asleep on the table in his living room with a long forgotten pill in front of him. While he was getting ready I received a text saying that Daniel Griffon had been murdered near a river.

We found ourselves going back to the Griffon house hold to tell them the bad news. It was Inspector Lewis who broke the news of Danny's death to Mrs Griffon as I didn't have the heart to tell her. But I did ask her if there was anyone she would have wanted to be with her. I also gave her the number of the family Liaison officer just in case she needed it. After Jess came down to ask what had happened we left Mrs Griffon to tell her as we didn't think she would want us repeating the bad news.

While leaving the Griffon's house we were sent to the crime scene where Danny died to try to work out how he was killed. Once Inspector Lewis had briefly spoken to the Superintendent we went to get a closer look at what happened. All of a sudden I noticed that the oars that are used to row the boat were the wrong way round.

So we had to visit the Cardinals rowing club to speak to the coach about rowing techniques and how good Danny was which according to the coach he was not a born athlete. Suddenly out of nowhere the coach revealed something about me that I didn't expect to be spoken about.

 _"I thought I recognised you, Hathaway isn't it?", "Cambridge No.7 in 98 Attaway Hathaway."_

I was so surprised and maybe even a little embarrassed that all I could do was stare at the floor as the coach revealed more.

 _"It was our downfall, we stuck with Macon's while Cambridge elected for cleavers"_

To avoid any more discussion about my rowing history Inspector Lewis asked him what time they close and we were informed that Danny had his own key so he could come at any time. Before we could have got any more information the coach had to attend to business involving a crash of a boat in the water. I checked his locker for a suicide note and it was at that moment that Lewis figured out that Danny favoured Macon's but he was using cleavers so that would have meant that Danny wasn't rowing.

Later on we went through Danny's room for any evidence or clues to help us get closer to catching the killer. I could tell that Inspector Lewis was getting frustrated as he said that even his squiggles had squiggles. But the one thing I didn't expect to hear was an apology from Inspector Lewis.

 _"Listen last night, I might have been a bit snappy about ... God"._

My simple reply was _He won't mind._

Before we could continue going through Danny's room, his friend burst in and Inspector Lewis went to speak to him in private.

When Inspector Lewis had come back I had made a list of the three phone messages to Daniel that night. One was from his friend Hai Bose which Lewis knew about, the second message from was from someone called J I was guessing Jessica Pollock, and the final message was a voicemail from his mother.

Without warning the Superintendent gave me a telling off about leaving a file on the desk for over two hours that confirmed that it was the same gun that was used to kill Regan. Another sudden moment was when Inspector Lewis took the blame for me by saying it was his fault. It felt flattering that he would put up with a telling off for me, I know for a fact that DI Knox would never have taken the blame for something I did wrong in fact he would have given me an even worse telling off than Innocent would.

We had to return to the griffon house to explain that we didn't think that Danny was killed where he was found that morning and that it was more than possible that he was murdered. It was Rex in particular that Inspector Lewis had his eyes on, he asked Rex where he was the night Danny was killed and Mrs Griffon told us that he was at home with her.

Walking back to the car Inspector Lewis received a phone call that Ivo Denniston wanted to talk to us. He told us that Danny had been to visit him around 10 at night; he also told us the Danny had come to see him because he thought that Rex and Regan have had sex. We asked how Danny could have found out and Ivo told us that he had got the impression that someone had told him. The last thing we asked was how long he stayed for and that was the confusing part as Ivo had said 11 o clock but his clock was at least three quarters of an hour fast.

Just after Inspector Lewis had finished talking to Jess I told him that the text from the person called J was not for Jessica it was for Jekyll. We went to visit her so she could tell us why she texted him. Her answer was that Danny had left her a voicemail to say he was coming round but he didn't turn up. She told us that she was wrong about what they were talking about previously; she said that Danny was coming round to show her the proof in black and white. Kate had shown us some video recordings and one of them was about Danny's dad speaking to him and telling him that Rex had killed him. The last thing she admitted was that she and Danny argued and Danny said that he would find some proof.

Back at the office we were both trying to find out the password to Danny's computer. We tried his sleep lab key code which unfortunately didn't work, we tried writing his name by using numbers but that didn't work either. Unknown to me Inspector Lewis was looking at the crossword clue that Morse had left but as his gaze was fixed on it he revealed to me that he didn't think it was a crossword clue. Then it suddenly clicked that king to a crossword mind is Rex and which meant that the polo could mean Pollock, Inspector Lewis was certain that Morse wouldn't get that wrong.

Later we were told that Tom Pollock's body was found in the bot of his own car. We got up a CCTV camera to find out who had parked the car before it was stolen. Later on Inspector Lewis had returned from his walk to tell me that he had figured out that polo did mean Pollock but the catch was that polo was short for Polonius. That wasn't all to his discovery, I was also told that Polonius was the kings right hand man just like Pollock, that had meant that Morse had found out the family secret , it wasn't Rex who had taken Johnny's place in his mother's bed , it was Pollock. Just at that second Inspector Lewis had told me to rewind the footage on the CCTV camera and the person who had parked the car in the first place was Rex Griffon.

Making another and hopefully the final trip to the Griffon house we got Rex to tell us that he was out with the Japanese till 11;30 the night Tom Pollock was discovered dead in the shower. Mrs Griffon had called him about it telling him that Danny had killed tom, she thought it was Danny because the murderer was wearing one of those hoodies that Danny always wore.

Shortly after we went to see Mrs Griffon about her and Tom Pollock. She admitted that Tom was not just her lover but he was also Danny's real father. She had also admitted that when she and Johnny had an argument she told him that Danny wasn't his and after that Johnny stormed out and his car screamed out and that was why he crashed.

Back at the office we were still trying to get the password to Danny's computer and out of the blue Inspector Lewis raced in and told me to type in 8128 because Danny only liked perfect numbers. Now we had got the right password we could finally get to the bottom of this case and find out who the killer is. We looked into his documents and found the Gold Bach document in his files but it said that it was written by Regan Peverill which showed a critical flaw in Ivo's published argument.

At that exact moment the whole thing made sense to both of us, the voicemail that Danny had left for Kate Jekyll wasn't for her at all, it was for Ivo Denniston. The proof he was talking about wasn't about his dad's death it was a mathematical proof that the work of the Gold Bach actually belonged to Regan. Now it was made clear to me, The inspector's theory that Ivo wanted to pass off Regan's work as his own was the truth and that was why he had killed Regan. Then the next part had slipped into place when Ivo thought that he had shot Rex Griffon in Mrs Griffons shower so that everybody thought that Danny had finally flipped out and killed him. Unfortunately he had shot the wrong man as it was Tom Pollock in the shower not Rex.

So we arrested Ivo Denniston for the murders of Regan Peverill, Danny Griffon and Tom Pollock, but the last nasty surprise of the day came as Ivo had poisoned himself with his glass of brandy.

After we had found out who the murderer was I managed to persuade the Superintendent to give Robbie a choice of if he would want me as his sergeant. Robbie looked up at me and gave me smile before giving me the impression that the answer was a yes.

Now we had solved the murder case, we went for a well-deserved pint. When I said pint, Inspector Lewis had a pint but because I was driving he said _orange juice or what?_

Orange juice, really?

Well at least its healthier the alcohol but then again I sometimes beg to differ.


End file.
